News

Menlo Park: House fire damages patio, bedrooms

Fire Investigator David Perrone of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District looks for clues to the cause of a fire in Menlo Park's Willows neighborhood that destroyed a patio and adjoining bedrooms of a house on Grayson Court on Sunday, Sept. 18. (Photo courtesy Menlo Park Fire Protection District)

A fire destroyed an attached covered patio and adjoining bedrooms of a house in the 300 block of Grayson Court in the Willows area of Menlo Park on Sunday night, according to Chief Harold Schapelhouman of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District.

A woman who lived there received minor hand burns and smoke inhalation in her attempt to save the family rabbits, he said. She was treated by fire district medics and taken to the hospital as a precaution.

A preliminary estimated loss is $200,000 to the structure and and $100,000 to the contents.

Cause of the fire is "undetermined at this point," he said.

The fire apparently began around 6 p.m. at the enclosed exterior patio at the rear of the single-family, single-story, three-bedroom home, which is used as a day care during the week, Chief Schapelhouman said.

The home is occupied by two adults and two children, but no one was home when the fire broke out. The woman had just left the house and had returned prior to the firefighters' arrival, he said.

When firefighters reached the site, they found the patio fully involved in fire, which was spreading into the home,

Firefighters aggressively attacked the fire, limiting interior fire damage, but smoke caused damage throughout the house and there was some water damage, he said. The enclosed patio was completely destroyed.